


The Traveller

by The Hellion Studio (FullmoonDagger)



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Gen, Joey gets mad at a little creature, One Shot, Short One Shot, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21733150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FullmoonDagger/pseuds/The%20Hellion%20Studio
Summary: Little story written off of ab-arts (on tumblr)’s last midnight prompt! It was hella fun to write and that really inspired me!
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	The Traveller

Somewhere near three in the morning, Joey finally gave up on his work to get some rest. He really didn’t want to but his body was begging for it. He knew that he shouldn’t have taken a nap at work earlier, as it made him sluggish all afternoon and now he really needed to sleep. He entered his bedroom, a half-finished glass of whiskey in hand. It might have just been anxiety, but the whole room felt off. Joey glanced out the window, the soft ochre sky not bringing any comfort in his soul. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. Why was he even trying? He sighed, settling on the matress, sitting against his pillows, his glass on his lap. An hour passed. Joey was still awake. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on nothing but his breathing. Deep. Slow.

Something moved under the bed.

His whole body tensed up. He stayed silent, trying to hear more. It’s true that now that he was paying attention, he felt that he was not alone here. Thats why the room felt strange. He opened his eyes, looking around the room. There was nothing in the corners, nothing over the bookshelf. Must be under the bed.

It moved again.

Joey was used with creatures taking his home as theirs, as he did some mistakes in the past with the wrong spells and rituals. But most of the time they didn’t manifest physically. Here he could hear some wretched being breathing, writhing and scratching right underneath him. He took a deep breath, slowly reaching for the hunting knife sitting on the bedpost. He always had one there, just in case. As he laid his shaky fingers on the weapon, he heard a growl from the creature. From the sound of it it didn’t seem to be too big, thankfully. Joey growled back, as loud and deep as his body allowed. He heard the thing curl up in fear under the bed. That helped him feel a bit more confident. Now he was thinking of a plan to get out of the bed. He decided to escape by walking over the chest that was sitting at the end of the bed, as he didn’t want to risk getting his ankles attacked from under. He quickly draped himself in his dark green nightrobe for style -also because he didn’t want to be seen in anything but a t shirt and boxers- and carefully walked back to his side of the bed, where he thought the monster was. As he started to bend down to see where it was, it sneezed. Joey was too tired and drunk to remember to be rude and that there was a potential threat under his bed.

 _“Bless you.”_ He mumbled.

The second after he talked he realized how stupid that was. He felt ashamed.

Then a voice rose from under the bed, hoarse and weak.

“Thank you.”

Joey raised his eyebrows. He really was not ready for this. He gripped his knife harder.

_“Get the fuck out of there. Now.”_

Silence.

 _“I know you can understand what I say. Get out!”_ He roared, hitting the floor with a foot furiously to accentuate his last word.

The creature made a little sniffy noise before risking a hand out of under the bed.

“No harm, no harm!”

_“You came to the wrong place for that.”_

Joey tensed up again once he saw what he thought was a demon slip out of under the bed. Its weak and crooked frame was covered by sickly pale yellow skin and it had small black eyes at the top of its skull. A very rough, discolored piece of rag was wrapped around its elongated body. Joey pointed his knife at the strange apparition.

_“What are you and what’s your name?”_

The creature cowered, hiding its face in its thin misshapen hands.

“Raf. Just a traveller. Don’t kill me!”

_“What are you travelling for? Do you even know where you are?!”_

Raf whined, swipping its tail on the floor.

_“You’re in my sanctuary. You have nothing to do here. The sentence for violating this place is death.”_

The demon’s beady eyes widened.

“No! Please no!”

Joey took a step closer, making the blade of his knife shine in the late moonlignt. Raf screamed and slipped back under the bed, but Joey stepped on its tail before he could be out of reach.

_“What do you want to do here?”_

“Please have mercy!”

Joey growled and pulled the demon out and glared at it.

_“I asked you something.”_

“I-” Raf gulped, then licked its wrinkled lips. “I just want to gather food for me and my mother. She’s ill and-”

Joey sighed loudly.

_“My, my. Do you want me to play the violin to go with your sad story ?”_

Raf tapped his clawy foot on the floor, nervous.

“No, please. I just need food… I swear I’ll go away.”

Joey grumbled.

_“You think there is food there?”_

“Yes?”

Joey didn’t really have any food at his appartment, and he wasn’t feeling very generous anyways. He scoffed, raising his shoulders.

_“I don’t have any food.”_

The creature looked down, sniffling again.

“Are you sure?”

 _“Okay. Come.”_ Joey barked, leaving the bedroom to show Raf how empty his kitchen was.

The strange creature followed him, scared out of its skin. It quickly caught a glimpse of the hundreds of skulls stacked in every corner of Joey’s living room and prefered looking at the wood floor. Once to the kitchen Joey turned on the lights angrily and gestured at everything, still holding his knife menacingly.

_“I have nothing here for you!”_

Raf tiptoed to the table and leaned against it, squinting at the sudden light.

“What about this?”

It pointed a finger at an almost empty jar of cherry jam sitting on the counter. Joey stared at it, an exasperated and tired look on his face.

_“… Really?”_

“Yes!” Raf clapped its hands happily.

Joey instantly cut him off.

_“No.”_

“Why?” The demon whined.

_“Because it’s mine.”_

The redhead took the jar and hid it high in a cupboard. It was really childish but he didn’t care. Raf frowned.

“Where can I find food?”

Joey sat on the counter, silent. Then something clicked in his brain.

_“I know.”_

A very faint smile appeared on his lips as he climbed down his seat, slowly walking out of the kitchen. Raf followed, completely lost. Joey was standing near the entrance door. It was completely painted blue with eyes all over it. Raf didn’t like it.

_“Okay. You’re gonna walk down the stairs quietly- as quiet as you can. There’s an old lady living on the lower floor. She loves to help people, she’s very generous. Because it’s so late she might be sleeping, but you can slip under her door and get as much food as you can.”_

Raf’s dark eyes lit up with hope.

“Really?”

Joey nodded.

_“Yes, yes. Don’t forget to break something in her home to thank her.”_

He opened the door to the staircase, pushing the creature out with a foot.

“Thank you! That was very kind of you!” Raf squeaked, almost forgetting the sharp knife in the man’s hand.

_“Yeah, right, now fuck off.”_

Joey slammed the door shut and locked the door, hoping to have some peace now.

He grabbed a pack of cigarettes and matches in the pocket of his coat by the door and went back to bed to take a nap before the morning comes.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi ! I hope you liked this fic <3 Feel free to leave some feedback or criticism, it really motivates me to do more ! 
> 
> If you want to know more about my AU, my Tumblr blog is @ask-the-hellion-studio :)


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